American Opinion on Teen Pregnancy and Related Issues 2003

THE NATIONAL CAMPAIGN TO PREVENT TEEN PREGNANCY
www.teenpregnancy.org ? 202.478.8500 ? web@teenpregnancy.org
Survey Says:
Parental influence. Teens say parents
(45%) influence their decisions
about sex more strongly than
friends (31%), religious leaders
(7%), teachers and sex educators
(6%), and the media (4%). Parents,
however, mistakenly believe that
teens? friends are most influential
(48%). Only 32% of adults believe
parents are most influential.
? 88% of teens say it would be easier
to postpone sexual activity
and avoid teen pregnancy if they
were able to have more open,
honest conversations about these
topics with their parents.
? 59% of teens say that when it
comes to healthy, responsible
relationships, their parents are
their primary role models.
Implications: When it comes to
teens? decisions about sex, parents
underestimate their own influence
and overestimate the influence of
others. Parents, and those that work
with parents, should be encouraged
by these findings and over two
decades of other research that suggest
that the quality of parent/child
relationships can make a real difference.
1 Overall closeness between
parents and their children, shared
activities, parental presence in the
home, and parental caring and concern
are all associated with a
reduced risk of early sex and teen
pregnancy.2
Teens express cautious attitudes
and values toward sex. Despite
what is often portrayed in the
media and what many adults may
assume, as a group, teens have a
cautious outlook about sex. Above
all, teens say their own morals, values,
and/or religious beliefs ? as
well as concerns about their future
? influence their decisions about
sex far more than concerns about
pregnancy or sexually transmitted
diseases (STDs). Consider the following:
? 85% of teens say that sex should
only occur in a long-term, committed
relationship.
? 84% of teens believe that teen
pregnancy prevention programs
Who most influences teens? decisions about sex? Do parents or peers matter more? Should society
strongly encourage adolescents to abstain from sexual intercourse? What do adults and teens think
about topics such as contraception, virginity, and the influence of the media? Understanding
Americans? attitudes about these topics helps point to strategies for addressing teen pregnancy prevention.
To that end, the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy commissions annual surveys of adults
and adolescents seeking answers to these and related questions. This Science Says brief summarizes some
of the key findings from the National Campaign?s 2003 survey. Data in this brief are drawn from the
publication, With One Voice 2003: America?s Adults and Teens Sound Off About Teen Pregnancy
(available at www.teenpregnancy.org).
The surveys were conducted via telephone in August and September 2003 with over 1,000 adults (aged
20 and over) and 1,000 adolescents (aged 12?19). All results are considered nationally representative.
See the methodology section below for more information on how these surveys were conducted.
THE NATIONAL CAMPAIGN TO PREVENT TEEN PREGNANCY
www.teenpregnancy.org ? 202.478.8500 ? web@teenpregnancy.org
should teach young people to be
married before they have a child.
? Only 26% of teens say that it is
embarrassing for teens to admit
they are virgins.
Implications: Parents and other
adults should not assume that teens
have a casual view about sex. The
majority of young people believe
that sex should be reserved for serious
relationships and that childbearing
is best after marriage. It is
important to note that these beliefs
are value-based, not just the result
of fears of physical consequences
such as STDs.
Abstinence and contraception.
Adults and teens support providing
teens with a strong abstinence message
and believe that teens should
not be sexually active. At the same
time, they also strongly support giving
young people information
about contraception. For those
teens that are having sex, a clear
majority of Americans believe that
teens should have access to contraception.
? Nearly all adults (94%) and teens
(92%) believe that it is important
for teens to be given a strong
message from society that they
should not have sex until they are
at least out of high school.
? Seven in ten (71%) adults and
59% of teens believe that teens
should not be sexually active, but
that teens who are should have
access to contraception.
? Three quarters of adults and
60% of teens wish that teens
were getting more information
about abstinence and contraception,
rather than just one or the
other.
? Nearly identical percentages
(67% of adults, 66% of teens)
urge policymakers in Washington
to place greater emphasis on both
encouraging teens not to have sex
and on using contraception,
rather than just one or the other.
Adults and teens reject the
?mixed message? criticism.
Stressing abstinence to teens while
also providing them with information
about contraception is not
viewed as ?mixed message.? Twothirds
of adults and three-quarters
of teens view such a message as
?clear and specific.?
Respondents were posed the following
proposition: ?Suppose a parent
or other adult tells a teenager the
following: ?I feel very strongly that
not having sex at all during your
middle and high school years is
your best option and the right thing
to do. I also think it is important
for you to receive information
about birth control or protection.
But again, I think not having sex is
your best option.?? Respondents
were then asked if they thought this
was a clear and specific message or a
confusing or mixed message.
? 68% of adults and 77% of teens
view such a message as ?clear and
specific.?
Teens want more information.
Few adults or teens feel that young
people are getting enough information
about abstinence and contraception.
? Only 13% of teens and 1% of
adults say they are/teens are getting
enough information about
abstinence and contraception.
? 60% of teens wish they were getting
more information about
both abstinence and contraception
? 9% say they want more
information about just abstinence,
and 11% want more
information about just contraception.
? As for adults, 74% wish teens
were getting more information
about both abstinence and contraception
? 18% want teens to
receive more information about
just abstinence, and 5% want
teens to get information just
about contraception.
Implications: Taken together, the
findings from the previous three
sections make clear that adults and
teens support education about
abstinence and contraception. They
believe that young people should be
strongly encouraged to not have sex
until they are at least out of high
school and should also be given
information about contraception.
They also believe that those teens
who are sexually active should have
access to contraception. This broad
support for both abstinence and
contraception should be taken into
account when funding and developing
programs for youth.
Teens overestimate the percentage
of their peers who have had
sex. The 2001 Youth Risk Behavior
Survey conducted and published by
the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention reports that 46% of
those in grades 9?12 have had sex.
However,
? 68% of those in grades 9?12 in
this survey believe that teens
their age are sexually experienced.
Sex and regret. Although the
majority of those adolescents surveyed
had not had sexual intercourse,
two-thirds of those who had
THE NATIONAL CAMPAIGN TO PREVENT TEEN PREGNANCY
www.teenpregnancy.org ? 202.478.8500 ? web@teenpregnancy.org
said they regretted having sex when
they did.
? 67% of sexually experienced
teens say they wish they had
waited longer before having
sexual intercourse.
Implications. The previous two sections
suggest that teens need to
understand that not everyone is
?doing it,? and that many young
people who are sexually active wish
they had waited longer. Teens? perception
of what their friends are
doing is very important. A teen
who believes his or her friends are
sexually active is more likely to initiate
sex, and less likely to do so if
he or she believes that peers are not
sexually active.3
Dating older partners. Younger
teens have more permissive attitudes
than older teens about the
appropriateness of dating someone
three or more years older.
? 29% of teens aged 12?14 think
it is okay for teens aged 14 or
young to date someone who is
three or more years older.
? Only 19% of teens aged 15?19
think such a dating arrangement
is appropriate.
Implications: According to research
from multiple investigators,
younger teens who date older partners
are much more likely to have
sex. For example, the National
Longitudinal Study of Adolescent
Health notes the following: 13% of
same-age relationships among those
aged 12-14 include sexual intercourse.
If the partner is two years
older, 26% of the relationships
include sex. If the partner is three
or more years older, 33% of the
relationships include sex.4
Adult supervision. A significant
minority (45%) of teens in grades
9?12 report that they have been at
a co-ed party in the past six months
where there were no adults in the
house.
? 19% of those in grades 5?8 say
they have been at a party recently
with boys and girls without any
adults present.
Implications: Research indicates that
teens whose parents supervise them
are more likely to be older when
they first have sex, to have fewer
partners, to use contraception, and
to be less at-risk for pregnancy.
However, ?very strict? monitoring
by parents is actually associated
with a greater risk of teen pregnancy,
5 so parents need to strike a
balance.
The message for boys. Six in ten
teens overall believe that teen boys
often receive the message that ?sex
and pregnancy are not a big deal.?
? 49% of boys and 70% of girls
believe that boys receive a different
message about sex and pregnancy
than girls do.
Implications: A ?double-standard?
may be alive and well ? one
encouraging teen girls to abstain
from sex but implying that sex and
teen pregnancy is not that big a
deal for boys. Certainly, increased
attention has been paid in recent
years to the responsibilities of boys
and young men in preventing teen
pregnancy and the critical role that
fathers play in the lives of their children.
But these data suggest that
more works needs to be done in
this area.
Media influence. Most adults and
teens (87% and 88% respectively)
wish the media showed more or
talked more about the consequences
of sex, including teen pregnancy.
Respondents also made clear that
the media plays the role of coversation
starter:
? Nearly half of teens (45%) say
that in the past year or so, something
in the media sparked a
conversation with their friends or
parents about the consequences
of sex.
? 58% of parents of teens say they
had such a conversation with
their children or friends because
of something they saw in the
media.
Implications: Previous National
Campaign polling has indicated
that parents believe they should talk
to their kids about sex but often
don?t know what to say, how to say
it, or when to start.6 These findings
show the media can be ? and
often is ? a springboard to begin
such discussions about sexual
behavior, values, relationships, and
teen pregnancy. These data also
strongly support a recent RAND
corporation study indicating that
television entertainment programs
can provide responsible messages
about sex and related issues for adolescents,
particularly if teen viewers
watch the show with their parents
and/or discuss the sexual messages
they have seen on television with an
adult.7
About the Putting What
Works to Work project
Putting What Works to Work
(PWWTW) is a project of the
National Campaign to Prevent Teen
Pregnancy funded, in part, by the
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention.Through PWWTW, the
Campaign translates research on teen
pregnancy prevention and related
issues into user-friendly materials for
practitioners, policymakers, and advocates.
As part of this initiative, the
Science Says series summarizes recent
research in short, user-friendly briefs.
For more information, please
visit www.teenpregnancy.org
About the National Campaign to
Prevent Teen Pregnancy
The National Campaign to Prevent Teen
Pregnancy is a nonprofit, nonpartisan
organization supported largely by private
donations.The Campaign?s mission is to
improve the well-being of children, youth,
and families by reducing teen pregnancy.
Our goal is to reduce the rate of teen
pregnancy by one-third between 1996 and
2005.
Sources and Methodology
Unless otherwise noted, all data presented
in this brief comes from the National
Campaign publication,With One Voice
2003: America?s Adults and Teens Sound Off
About Teen Pregnancy.With One Voice is
drawn from two national surveys, one of
young people aged 12?19 and the other of
adults aged 20 and older.The survey was
designed by the National Campaign and
was conducted by International
Communications Research, an independent
polling firm based in Pennsylvania.
The two surveys are weighted to provide
nationally representative estimates of those
aged 12?19 and aged 20 and older.
Fieldwork for these surveys was conducted
between August 21 and September 10,
2003. For the teen survey, telephone surveys
were conducted with 1,000 young
people. For the adult survey, telephone
interviews were conducted with 1,008
individuals.The margin of error for both
surveys is +/- 3 percentage points.
The sample for the teen survey was drawn
using two different methods.The first sample
source used random digit dial (RDD).
RDD numbers are drawn from telephone
households throughout the continental
United States. As a second sample source,
a database of households with teenagers
aged 12?19, was tapped. All interviews
were conducted using the computer
Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI)
system.The CATI system ensures that all
questions are rotated, and that when
answer options are presented, they are
also rotated.This rotating eliminates ?question
position? bias.
The adults survey was done as part of a
national, twice-weekly telephone omnibus
survey using a fully replicated, stratified, single-
stage RDD sample of telephone households.
Sample telephone numbers were
computer-generated.
Funding information
This research brief was supported by
cooperative agreement number U88/
CCU322139-01 from the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Its
contents are solely the responsibility of the
authors and do not necessarily represent
the official views of CDC.
Author information.
This research brief was written by Bill
Albert, Senior Director of
Communications, Publications, and
Technology at the National Campaign to
Prevent Teen Pregnancy.
Endnotes
1. Miller, B. (1998). Families Matter: A
research synthesis of family influences on
adolescent pregnancy. Washington, DC:
National Campaign to Prevent Teen
Pregnancy.
2. Blum, R.W., & Rinehart, P.M. (1998).
Reducing the Risk: Connections that make a
difference in the lives of youth. Center for
Adolescent health and Development,
University of Minnesota. Minneapolis, MN.
3. Brown, B., & Theobald,W. (1999). How
Peers Matter:A research synthesis of peer
influences in adolescent pregnancy. In Peer
Potential: Making the most of how teens
influence each other (pp. 27?80).Washington,
DC: National Campaign to Prevent
Teen Pregnancy
4. Bruckner, H., & Bearman, P. (2003).
Dating Behavior and Sexual Activity of
Young Adolescents: Analyses of the
National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent
Health. In Albert, B., Brown, S., & Flanigan,
C. (Eds.), 14 and Younger:The sexual
behavior of young adolescents (pp. 31?56).
Washington, DC: National Campaign to
Prevent Teen Pregnancy.
5. Miller, B. (1998). Families Matter: A
research synthesis of family influences on
adolescent pregnancy. Washington, DC:
National Campaign to Prevent Teen
Pregnancy.
6. National Campaign to Prevent Teen
Pregnancy. (2001).With One Voice: America?s
adults and teens sound off about teen
pregnancy. Washington, DC: Author.
7. Collins, R., Elliott, M., Berry, S., Kanouse,
D., Hunter, S. (2003). Entertainment
Television as a Healthy Sex Educator:The
Impact of Condom-Efficacy Information in
an Episode of Friends. Pediatrics, 112:
1115?1121.